you are there, you’ll have so many chances to set things right! This is your chance to
step out of your comfort zone, and grow!
Generally, you will have a cluster of international friends in a matter of weeks, and
you will stay in contact for years! Be open to anyone, and don’t get offended if you
get prejudice thrown at you – you are an ambassador, and this is your chance to
change the way people see your profession, or your country.
If someone invites you somewhere – say yes! If you want to go someplace – ask
others to come. Swap experiences with people, because those will be the memories
you share. I, for my part, have a couple of those. What I remember most, probably
because it still is something I regularly use, is how to cook Indian food. I learned that
from an Indian friend, who in exchange hoped to learn how to cook German food,
and finally asked: “Why is all you ever cook Italian?”

Aude Martin, Member of the National Bureau of Engineering Students
(BNEI), France
Engineering student at Ecole Centrale Marseille, specialisation in Optics and Photonics
1 - What was the main reason that you decided to
do an internship abroad? How did you choose
which country to go to? How did you finance your
stay? When I was 15, thanks to a program funded by
the Franco-German Youth Office, I had the opportunity
to stay in Germany with a family and to go to high
school for half a year.
I really enjoyed the time there and I decided to go back
as soon as I left. In my engineering school, studying or
working abroad for at least six months is compulsory and the choice I had to make
was rather to decide about the purpose of my stay.
I thought that working abroad would be a more interesting experience since I could
both try my taste for research in the field of optics and experience intercultural work.
I got a six month contract as a Hiwi-Student (research assistant) at the Institute of
Applied Physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). I was paid but it was
not enough for my stay so my parents helped me financially.
2 – How did you manage to plan your trip before departure? Where did you find
information about the country that you were going to and the facilities there? Is
there any specific source of information you used?